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Personal effects, furniture and household goods enter free, on terms the tariff does not print

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of New Zealand on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.

195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match New Zealand to Australia · Bringing your belongings

Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 is the list of concessional rates, and item 15 is headed Goods that are personal effects. It sets the rate of duty for passengers' personal effects, furniture or household goods at Free. The qualification is in the first line of the item and matters as much as the rate: the goods must be as prescribed by by-law. The tariff therefore settles that the concession exists and says nothing about who gets it, what counts as household goods, how long they must have been owned, or what happens to a car. Those conditions are in customs by-laws, which are published separately and were not read for this record. The same item also carries a Trans-Tasman trace of a different kind: paragraph (d) admits free of duty goods imported by members of the forces of Canada, New Zealand or the United Kingdom.

Verified with official sourceStable2026-10-11

At a glance

Rate of duty on passengers' personal effects, furniture or household goods
Free

Item 15 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995, compilation 100.

Conditions stated in the Act itself
None beyond the words as prescribed by by-law: item 15 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995 states no ownership period, no value limit and no residence test

Those conditions exist in customs by-laws made for the item, which are separate instruments and were not read.

Forces whose members get the same concession by name
Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom

Paragraph (d) of item 15 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995.

Requirements

  • The goods must fall within item 15 of Schedule 4 to the Customs Tariff Act 1995
  • They must be as prescribed by by-law, which is where the real conditions sit
  • The rate that follows, if the by-law conditions are met, is Free

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of New Zealand

We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verifiedCustoms Tariff Act 1995 · Schedule 4, item 15 · consolidated to 2026-07-04
«| 15 | Goods, as prescribed by by‑law, that are:<br>(a) goods imported by passengers or members of the crew of ships or aircraft; or»
Read it at the source
About this source

The Commonwealth of Australia's statute book, run by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel under the Legislation Act 2003. It carries every Act, legislative instrument and notifiable instrument of the Commonwealth, each as made and as compiled, and it is the only publisher in this corpus whose own enabling Act gives its text a standing in court: section 15ZB of the Legislation Act 2003 says proof is not required in a court or tribunal of the text of a registered law, and section 15ZA presumes an authorised version of a registered compilation correctly shows the law as in force on the compilation date. Addressing is by register identifier rather than by name - C1958A00062 is the Migration Act 1958, F1996B03551 the Migration Regulations 1994 - and /latest/text serves the current compilation. Every compilation page prints its compilation number, its compilation date and the last amending Act or instrument taken into account.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: Three things, each of which has already bitten. First, an unknown identifier does not 404: the site serves its own home page, so a wrong guess looks like a short page of search boxes rather than an error, and an absence inferred from one would be invented. Second, a long instrument is served in volumes and /latest/text gives volume 1 only - the Migration Regulations 1994 run to four volumes and Schedule 2, where every visa subclass actually lives, is in volumes 2 and 3 at a separate address. Third, and most important, nothing in the HTML served at /latest/text claims to be an authorised version. Section 15ZA makes an electronic copy one only if it is downloaded from an approved website in a format prescribed by the rules and either the site or the copy says so in the way the rules prescribe; the Act's own example of such a format is a locked pdf file. The words authorised version do not occur anywhere in any of the readings stored from this publisher except in the Legislation Act 2003 itself, so what we quote is the register's text without the status the register is able to give it. The presumption in section 15ZA(5)(h) is also expressly subject to section 15Q(4), under which a compilation need not take account of a retrospective commencement, so a compilation can be accurate on its face and behind the law. It is not a source for the Immigration Rules equivalent - departmental policy and procedural advice are published by Home Affairs, not here - nor for any state or territory law, which has its own register, nor for the text of a treaty, which is published in the Australian Treaty Series.

We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verifiedCustoms Tariff Act 1995 · Schedule 4, item 15(d) and (e) · consolidated to 2026-07-04
«(d) goods imported by members of the forces of Canada, New Zealand or the United Kingdom; or<br>(e) passengers’ personal effects, furniture or household goods | Free |»
Read it at the source
About this source

The Commonwealth of Australia's statute book, run by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel under the Legislation Act 2003. It carries every Act, legislative instrument and notifiable instrument of the Commonwealth, each as made and as compiled, and it is the only publisher in this corpus whose own enabling Act gives its text a standing in court: section 15ZB of the Legislation Act 2003 says proof is not required in a court or tribunal of the text of a registered law, and section 15ZA presumes an authorised version of a registered compilation correctly shows the law as in force on the compilation date. Addressing is by register identifier rather than by name - C1958A00062 is the Migration Act 1958, F1996B03551 the Migration Regulations 1994 - and /latest/text serves the current compilation. Every compilation page prints its compilation number, its compilation date and the last amending Act or instrument taken into account.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: Three things, each of which has already bitten. First, an unknown identifier does not 404: the site serves its own home page, so a wrong guess looks like a short page of search boxes rather than an error, and an absence inferred from one would be invented. Second, a long instrument is served in volumes and /latest/text gives volume 1 only - the Migration Regulations 1994 run to four volumes and Schedule 2, where every visa subclass actually lives, is in volumes 2 and 3 at a separate address. Third, and most important, nothing in the HTML served at /latest/text claims to be an authorised version. Section 15ZA makes an electronic copy one only if it is downloaded from an approved website in a format prescribed by the rules and either the site or the copy says so in the way the rules prescribe; the Act's own example of such a format is a locked pdf file. The words authorised version do not occur anywhere in any of the readings stored from this publisher except in the Legislation Act 2003 itself, so what we quote is the register's text without the status the register is able to give it. The presumption in section 15ZA(5)(h) is also expressly subject to section 15Q(4), under which a compilation need not take account of a retrospective commencement, so a compilation can be accurate on its face and behind the law. It is not a source for the Immigration Rules equivalent - departmental policy and procedural advice are published by Home Affairs, not here - nor for any state or territory law, which has its own register, nor for the text of a treaty, which is published in the Australian Treaty Series.

We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source

Practical notes

The by-laws made for item 15 are where the ownership periods, the exclusions and the treatment of motor vehicles live. They are separate legislative instruments on the Federal Register of Legislation and were not read, so nothing is said here about them.

Prohibited and restricted imports are governed by the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956 and by the Biosecurity Act 2015, neither of which was read. A duty-free rate says nothing about whether a thing may be brought in at all.

Volume 6 of compilation 100 of the Customs Tariff Act 1995, which holds Schedules 4 to 16, is the volume read for this record.

Sources2 · all accessed 2026-10-11
  • consolidates
    Customs Tariff Act 1995, compilation 100, volume 6 (Schedules 4 to 16)

    Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Federal Register of Legislation · consolidated to 2026-07-04

    About this source

    The Commonwealth of Australia's statute book, run by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel under the Legislation Act 2003. It carries every Act, legislative instrument and notifiable instrument of the Commonwealth, each as made and as compiled, and it is the only publisher in this corpus whose own enabling Act gives its text a standing in court: section 15ZB of the Legislation Act 2003 says proof is not required in a court or tribunal of the text of a registered law, and section 15ZA presumes an authorised version of a registered compilation correctly shows the law as in force on the compilation date. Addressing is by register identifier rather than by name - C1958A00062 is the Migration Act 1958, F1996B03551 the Migration Regulations 1994 - and /latest/text serves the current compilation. Every compilation page prints its compilation number, its compilation date and the last amending Act or instrument taken into account.

    Standing: Maintains the text in force

    Cannot be cited for: Three things, each of which has already bitten. First, an unknown identifier does not 404: the site serves its own home page, so a wrong guess looks like a short page of search boxes rather than an error, and an absence inferred from one would be invented. Second, a long instrument is served in volumes and /latest/text gives volume 1 only - the Migration Regulations 1994 run to four volumes and Schedule 2, where every visa subclass actually lives, is in volumes 2 and 3 at a separate address. Third, and most important, nothing in the HTML served at /latest/text claims to be an authorised version. Section 15ZA makes an electronic copy one only if it is downloaded from an approved website in a format prescribed by the rules and either the site or the copy says so in the way the rules prescribe; the Act's own example of such a format is a locked pdf file. The words authorised version do not occur anywhere in any of the readings stored from this publisher except in the Legislation Act 2003 itself, so what we quote is the register's text without the status the register is able to give it. The presumption in section 15ZA(5)(h) is also expressly subject to section 15Q(4), under which a compilation need not take account of a retrospective commencement, so a compilation can be accurate on its face and behind the law. It is not a source for the Immigration Rules equivalent - departmental policy and procedural advice are published by Home Affairs, not here - nor for any state or territory law, which has its own register, nor for the text of a treaty, which is published in the Australian Treaty Series.

    We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source

  • consolidates
    Customs Tariff Act 1995, compilation 100, volume 1

    Office of Parliamentary Counsel, Federal Register of Legislation · consolidated to 2026-07-04

    About this source

    The Commonwealth of Australia's statute book, run by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel under the Legislation Act 2003. It carries every Act, legislative instrument and notifiable instrument of the Commonwealth, each as made and as compiled, and it is the only publisher in this corpus whose own enabling Act gives its text a standing in court: section 15ZB of the Legislation Act 2003 says proof is not required in a court or tribunal of the text of a registered law, and section 15ZA presumes an authorised version of a registered compilation correctly shows the law as in force on the compilation date. Addressing is by register identifier rather than by name - C1958A00062 is the Migration Act 1958, F1996B03551 the Migration Regulations 1994 - and /latest/text serves the current compilation. Every compilation page prints its compilation number, its compilation date and the last amending Act or instrument taken into account.

    Standing: Maintains the text in force

    Cannot be cited for: Three things, each of which has already bitten. First, an unknown identifier does not 404: the site serves its own home page, so a wrong guess looks like a short page of search boxes rather than an error, and an absence inferred from one would be invented. Second, a long instrument is served in volumes and /latest/text gives volume 1 only - the Migration Regulations 1994 run to four volumes and Schedule 2, where every visa subclass actually lives, is in volumes 2 and 3 at a separate address. Third, and most important, nothing in the HTML served at /latest/text claims to be an authorised version. Section 15ZA makes an electronic copy one only if it is downloaded from an approved website in a format prescribed by the rules and either the site or the copy says so in the way the rules prescribe; the Act's own example of such a format is a locked pdf file. The words authorised version do not occur anywhere in any of the readings stored from this publisher except in the Legislation Act 2003 itself, so what we quote is the register's text without the status the register is able to give it. The presumption in section 15ZA(5)(h) is also expressly subject to section 15Q(4), under which a compilation need not take account of a retrospective commencement, so a compilation can be accurate on its face and behind the law. It is not a source for the Immigration Rules equivalent - departmental policy and procedural advice are published by Home Affairs, not here - nor for any state or territory law, which has its own register, nor for the text of a treaty, which is published in the Australian Treaty Series.

    We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source